HELEN JEAN BACHRACH TUMPSON WALLACE

HELEN JEAN BACHRACH TUMPSON WALLACE, author, artist, actress and beloved mother and grandmother, passed away in Knoxville, Tenn., on Jan. 10, a few days before her 94th birthday.



Her first book, The Sensuous Divorcee, was published in 1974 and sold nearly 250,000 copies. This witty nonfiction guide to post-divorce sex and dating begins with a dedication to her ex-husband: "To Sidney ... with whom I could never have written this book."



Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pa., Helen as a young girl took dancing lessons from Gene Kelly when he was a student at Pitt. During World War II, Helen was one of 39 female undergraduates at Cornell University who received an offer to enroll as Curtiss-Wright Cadettes in an engineering training program run by what was then the largest aircraft manufacturer in the U.S.



After the war she married U.S. Army Air Corps veteran Sidney Tumpson, and they raised five children in Huntington, where Helen became an active member of the arts community, as both an actress and a painter.



Her roles with the Huntington Community Players included the girl in "The Seven Year Itch," Dr. Content Lowell in "The Marriage-Go-Round" and Little Mary in "Little Mary Sunshine." She received the Huntington Broadway Theater League award for her portrayal of Romaine in "Witness for the Prosecution." She also performed in summer stock at the Mountain Playhouse in Jennerstown, Pa., and in George Romero's "There's Always Vanilla," his second film, after "Night of the Living Dead."



As a visual artist, Helen worked in oils, watercolor, mixed media and woodcuts. Her work was displayed in numerous galleries and exhibitions and won top prizes in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Florida. She was an officer in the Artists Group in the Huntington Galleries (now known as the Huntington Museum of Art) and was one of nine artists selected during West Virginia's centennial year to have their artwork shown in colleges and universities around the state.



In 1964 Helen moved with her family to Uniontown, Pa., where she co-wrote three songs with Mickey Sharp: "Away With the Wind," "Can I Still Pretend I Am the One?" and "Just a Touch."



After getting divorced in 1970, Helen moved to Miami, Fla., where she served as project director of Third Century U.S.A., an organization started by the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce to promote America's bicentennial celebration.



While in Miami, Fla., she wrote Helen Tumpson's Indispensable Easy-to-Carry Habit-Forming Bargain-Filled Money-Saving Greater Miami Shopping Guide. She also launched a glossy, magazine-style shopping guide, "Guía del Comprador," which she edited and co-published. This Spanish-language quarterly was flown on Latin American airlines and distributed by Miami, Fla., business groups and hotels.



In 1987 Helen married Ned Wallace, who, as she was fond of pointing out, was nearly a decade younger than she was. They spent many years in Boca Raton, Fla., where Helen continued to write, paint and act.



Preceded in death by her husband, Ned, and by her daughter, Joan Tumpson, Helen is survived by daughter, Jill Rawe; sons, Daniel, Albert and Toby Tumpson; grandson, Kinsey; granddaughters, Julie, Sydney, Sophia and Sally; and great-grandchildren, Evan, Eliza and Susanna.



A memorial service will be held March 2 at Lakeside Memorial Park in Doral, Fla. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Huntington Museum of Art, www.hmoa.org, 304-529-2701. Helen's family can be reached at tobytumpson@gmail.com.